My Future And Other Useless Things
by CheesePie
Summary: Deidara is forced on a school trip to konaha college where he is grouped with a few... interesting - for lack of a better term - people, including an 'emo' with no drive, a jashinist on detention, a fujoshi and an idiot who doesn't know the true meaning of art. Throughout the course of the day he learns more from the students than the teachers could ever show him. shounen-ai. AU.
1. The Future Is Overrated

**I had the idea. it kept bugging me. i couldn't help it.**

**so i wrote this. it's just a small story, it'll have like, four or five chapters.**

**First person cause i haven't written in first person in a while.**

**for those who don't know, a fujoshi is a woman who really likes yaoi.**

**Enjoy ^^ and remember I OWN NOTHING.**

* * *

This is so stupid. Why do high schooler's still go on field trips anyway? The last _interesting_ field trip we went on was to the zoo during my second year of primary school. We've been to the stardome observatory every year since then and I had never learnt anything new.

Yeah, stars are big, burning balls of gas, planets orbit the sun, there's an asteroid belt, Venus is the hottest planet and Pluto is a ball of ice that no longer qualifies to be a planet.

I know all of that already! I knew it when I was _eight!_ And no amount of pointless visits to that stupid place could convince me to become an astronomer – though there was a brief period when I was ten, where I wanted to travel into space.

The only reason we weren't going this year, was because I had promised my science teacher that if we went, I'd blow the damn place up.

And he knew I was good for it too.

But now, since I had actually bothered to pay attention in physics, I was one of the _lucky_ little idiots who got to attend an orientation day for Konaha University.

I didn't want to go there; I was gonna go to Iwa University of Arts. They only taught creative major's there; writing, drama, fashion, photography and plain art, though you could also study law through an umbrella course.

It was either that or I'd end up going to Suna University of Mechanics and Engineering.

Konaha University, much like the high school of the same name, was revolved around the sciences; physics, chemistry and biology. If you wanted to go into medicine, then that was the place to go, although it wasn't the only thing they taught there, it was best known for its medical courses.

Although I was interested in chemicals and the like, I didn't want to go into it as a career.

I pitied the people who were only here to please somebody else, much like the bumbling idiots who had accompanied me there. I was always questioned around my school, for my careless attitude but I didn't care what they thought of me, that was their problem, not mine.

My art teacher told me that I should live for myself instead of in consistent fear of what other people will think of me. After all, why have a job or life that will make you miserable?

I don't want to be tied down by anything.

I wanted to be free to fly at any given moment.

But I digress.

See my teacher decided it would be a good idea to send me and a few other students to Konaha University, so that we could prepare for some inevitable future of becoming doctors or surgeons or chemists…

Well, whatever.

The building was huge and made of glass, the grey of the cloudy skies reflected in their tinted surface as drops of rain began to fall.

We weren't the only school there and I saw the distinct red of Konaha High School, the white of Kiri, yellow for Suna – whey they would make a _whole_ school dress in yellow was beyond me – blue for Taki, purple for Yuga and green for Ame. Against the dull grey sky which matched Iwa's own grey, they were an explosion of colour.

We all shuffled inside to check in, rallied into separate corners of the room by our science teachers and told to keep quiet while we were checked in.

I heard someone in my group say we'd be split up so we could make connections with other people.

Whatever, I wasn't looking to make any friends.

We were led into a large lecture hall and given an introduction to what we'd be doing today. Nothing I hadn't heard at school already and finally, our names were called out for us to be put in groups.

It took a few minutes but eventually I heard my name called out with four others;

"Hidan, Itachi, Sasori, Konan and Deidara, group seven."

It seemed each of us were from a different high school; I saw Yuga, Konaha, Suna and Ame along with Iwa, which I was wearing proudly.

My group consisted of an impassive looking kid with long dark hair, his obsidian eyes seemed to take in everything around him and process it all like a computer. There was a guy with white hair from Yuga who looked mighty ticked off to be here, a redhead who looked like he might fall asleep form boredom and a girl who looked excited to have been put in a group with all boys.

We were accompanied by the teacher form Yuga who seemed a little apprehensive towards his student and growled, "Hidan you better behave yourself."

"Bite me you heathen son of a bitch," Hidan barked back.

Well then…

"You should watch what you say, god is watching us, you know" the girl, _Konan_ said with a smile. She didn't look much the religious type but it could've been a nicer way of telling him to shut the fuck up.

"The only god I care about is lord Jashin and he doesn't give a damn what I say!"

"Hidan I swear, if you don't behave today I'll –"

"Expel me? Go right ahead, see if I fucking care!"

"How did you even get here, un?" I asked quietly, not expecting him to hear me, but honestly, _how?_

"It's _supposed_ to be a punishment," his teacher sighed.

"What? But this place is _so cool!_" Konan insisted.

The redhead rolled his eyes, "fan-fucking-tastic," he said, "I've been grouped with an emo, an overly excited nerd, an androgynous and sally-swears-a-lot. Can we just get this over with so I can go back?"

His words seemed to shock us all into being quiet except for the kid from Konaha who had already been silent.

As we started walking again though, I heard him say, "I'm not emo."

But wait, if he was the emo…

"Hey, I'm not androgynous, dammit un!"

That redheaded jerk didn't even look back, but I could hear the sneer in his words, "well brat, you could've fooled me," he said.

What a jerk!

I wasn't even wearing a skirt!

"I'm not even wearing a skirt, un!"

And immediately, the only girl in our group turned on me. Seriously, if I'd known people from other schools were this psycho… well I have no way to finished that because I'd never really considered going anywhere else.

"So you're saying that all girls should wear skirts and dresses?" Konan asked, feigning anger but the humour in her eyes said she only wanted to fuel the fire. "I suppose you think we all belong in the kitchen too, huh? Since I'm a girl, you're probably wondering why I'm here, right? Cause women can't go out and do things with their lives, right?"

"Sexist prick," Hidan muttered, apparently taking her side.

"Tch, I feel sorry for the poor girl who ends up with you," Konan concluded, clearly having fun with me and the way I reacted to everything she said.

"What? Un, I don't even like girls –"

_Dammit!_

I felt my face turn red as I realised my confession and Konan clapped her hands together, letting out a high-pitched squeal – you know the one, don't deny it – having heard just what she wanted.

"Great," the grouchy redheaded jerk muttered, "add Fujoshi to the list, that's just what I fucking need."

I frowned. What did that mean?

"Dammit un, I'm not androgynous!"

"Whatever you say, brat."

So far this trip was starting off worse than any trip to the dome and I could tell things were only going to get worse.


	2. Fun With A Fujoshi

**I love writing Konan with different personalities... especially Fujoshi. it's fun ^^**

**now i don't know how they do college orientations where you are, but where i am, this is pretty much it. and it's the same focus every time, for people like me. i actually got the idea for this while at an orientation i was forced to go to by my biology teacher. anyways...**

**also, i just thought i'd rant a little about how happy i am to have done the artistic opinion arguement.. the whole ****_fleeting, eternal_**** thing. i've never gotten to write that before and it was really fun and i thought i'd just rant about that for a moment ^^**

* * *

Chemistry was first.

I'd always sort of liked chemicals, or more what you could do with them. I'd gotten in trouble a lot in class for either intentionally poisoning the air, or _accidently_ mixing the wrong chemicals and causing a fire or explosion. Of course there had been a few times when I wasn't caught, that I tampered with the chemicals before class, resulting in varying levels of chaos.

It was always fun to watch things catch on fire.

I'd lit the art room on fire once and gotten in massive trouble from the teacher, as well as the students. I burned a lot of good work that day, though I really couldn't see it as such until it was burning and I knew I'd never see it again.

Even though I got in a lot of trouble for that, it was exhilarating seeing the pile of ashes, burnt out canvases and ruined frames.

But I digress.

The first thing we did, after putting our stuff in a safe room, was introduce ourselves. It was lame; to say the least because by then, we'd already heard enough from and about each other to paint a basic picture.

But we went around the circle nonetheless. His teacher tried to stop him, but Hidan went first.

"I'm Hidan from Yuga high school. Put a couple of kids in the hospital and they send me here for fucking punishment instead of expelling me like a smart person fucking would," he looked at the man and woman at the front of the room, who were supposed to be teaching us, "happy?"

Well, they didn't look happy.

Moving on.

"Itachi, from Konaha. My parents want me to be a doctor."

"Well, Itachi," the woman smiled kindly at him but it wasn't returned in the slightest, "Why did _you_ want to come here?"

Itachi frowned for a moment as though he didn't understand the question, before re-iterating his answer. "I'm _going_ to be a doctor."

The woman gave a look that sort of said, _okay then… awkward,_ before we moved on.

Konan waved enthusiastically at the two and at us, "hi, I'm Konan and I go to Ame High School, I take all available science courses, I love anything to do with science or numbers or anything that just makes you _think!_ I'd really like to work with like, explosives or atomic bombs or in like, a secret government program, but my boyfriend says that's unrealistic, so I want to be a psychologist!"

The woman smiled and nodded, albeit unsurely, before everyone was suddenly staring at Sasori, who had been staring at something on the ground the entire time and not paying attention. He seemed able to sense us staring at him though and looked up with those bored brown eyes.

"Oh, what are we doing?" he asked.

"Tell us why you're here, un," I told him. I smirked slightly when he gave me a look that sort of said, _seriously?_

"Alright, I'm from Suna and I'd really rather be in Iwa right now because I am missing the art workshops and will therefore not only have to waste time here with science geeks, but on the weekend trying to get information on the art courses without meeting any other aspiring artists."

"W-well, why did you come here, if you'd rather be somewhere else?" the woman asked, stuttering at Sasori's cold demeanour.

Sasori shrugged, "art is, apparently not an acceptable source of income. My grandmother wouldn't sign the permission slip for Iwa, so they wouldn't take me."

So far, this was looking to be a pretty sorry group of people.

I took that as my cue to speak.

"Well un, I'm from Iwa, I'm _not _androgynous," I felt the need to add that in because of the incident earlier, "and I'm only here because my physics teacher doesn't want me to blow up the stardome. That's my thing, by the way un, I love to blow things up or set them on fire. I was actually hoping to go to Iwa today and light one of the rooms on fire, un."

Yep, the two specialists here definitely thought we were insane.

"What the hell would you do that for, brat?" Sasori asked when I'd finished, looking at me as though I was a complete idiot.

I shrugged, still smirking, "to watch it all burn, un. I don't think art has much meaning until it's gone un. I think true beauty is fleeting."

Sasori scoffed in disbelief, "you idiot, art isn't fleeting, what the hell is the point of something if you only see it once? Art is _eternal_, brat."

"_Eternal?"_ I asked, disbelievingly, "un, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! If art was eternal, it would lose its meaning! The most beautiful things in this world are those that last only a few fleeting moments before disappearing, only to ever been seen as memories, half as good as what they really were! Art is _fleeting!"_

"Art is eternal brat! True art stands the test of time. Something that lasts only a few moments has no meaning at all, it's pointless if you only see something once! True art is _eternal!"_

I think by then we'd both realised we were being stared at, but an artist's opinion is more than just that… it's a way of life! It's everything!

And I wasn't going to stand around and let him dis my _everything!_

"It's _fleeting_, un!" I yelled, getting up off of my chair.

"It's _eternal,_ brat!" he growled, mimicking me.

"Fleeting!"

"Eternal!"

"Fleeting, un!"

"Oh god, they're almost as bad as you."

The sound of Yuga's staff representative, snapped us out of it.

I blushed lightly, realising just how close we'd gotten, close enough I could smell him, which was weird, but he smelled like coconut and marshmallow's, which was also weird, coming from such an angry seeming guy. I could feel the heat radiating from his body and the intensity of his stare sent a shiver through me, before Konan pulled us apart, barely supressing her fangirlish-glee.

"alright, alright, break it up, you're making an _awful_ impression," she said, almost unable to keep the squeal out of her voice, "you, switch places with me," she shoved Sasori over to her seat on the other side of our small circle, and sat down next to me, giving me an enthusiastic smile.

I'd never quite had _this_ reaction to my differences back at school.

"Okay then… that was a terrible idea," the woman said, "but at least we'll know better for the next group. So, let's get into it, shall we?"

So after the failed introduction stage, they taught us a bit about what they did, they both worked at in a lab with a bunch of other people, working on new medications which would take _years_ to perfect and actually get onto the market.

Hidan said they didn't do anything useful and there was nothing we could learn from them. Of course, he was just being him, since he had no interest in this stuff.

After that, we worked out a couple of chemical equations on the whiteboard and were given the chemicals and equipment needed to complete the reactions. I was paired with Konan, Itachi and Sasori worked together on the other side of the room and Hidan was kept away from the chemicals completely by his teacher.

Idiots. They should've been watching the self-confessed pyromaniac.

"What are you doing?" Konan asked in that sickeningly cheerful voice as I rummaged around in the cupboards beneath our work station.

"Nothing un," I said, mimicking her voice while pushing aside bottles of chemicals.

"Well okay, are you planning to help, at all?"

"Wait un, I'm looking for something."

I looked up in time to see her giving me a look, before I turned back to the chemicals beneath the counter.

"So you're good at chemistry, huh?"

"I wouldn't say _good._ I like to pretend I'm a mad scientist sometimes un… is that weird?"

Konan laughed, "no, not weird at all. My boyfriend has a bit of a god complex so I know a little something about make-believe."

"Boyfriend, huh? Lucky you, un. Same school or do you do the _only on weekends_ thing, un?"

Not finding quite what I was looking for beneath that bench, I went to the next. Really, they should've kept their chemicals in a different room, but I guess they'd never had a problem before with students like me picking their locks. After today, they'd most likely keep their chemicals somewhere else.

"No, we both go to the same school. He's here today, actually, not really a science geek as much as I am, but it's always good to keep your options open, right? He was kinda disappointed when he was recommended for this place instead of Ame College but we'll be going there tomorrow, instead of going to school."

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Ame College was one that focussed on things like politics, public speaking, philosophy and the odd mathematics major. Of course, like the other college's you could do a few other things there but if you wanted to be really successful in something that didn't require good speaking and thinking skills, you'd be better off going somewhere else.

"So what's your excuse, Deidara?" she practically sang. I was already beginning to grow annoyed with her happiness and yet it was somehow so endearing at the same time.

"Huh, excuse for what, un?" I asked absently.

"Being single. You're what, a senior? And a total cutie! You have no excuse to be single!"

"Un, you're just saying that because you're a…" what was it Sasori called her earlier? "Because you're a Fujoshi, un."

I looked up to see a weird spark in her eyes and a smile on her face – don't pretend you don't know that smile – and she said, "well yeah, but also because it's true!"

I rolled my eyes. "Iwa isn't a very tolerant school, un," I said eventually.

"Well then maybe you need to explore other options," she giggled slightly and I looked up to see her looking across the room where the other two were working quietly and were probably on task.

No way. No way in hell.

"Are you kidding un? That guy's a total jerk! And an idiot too un!" I could only assume she was talking about Sasori, because Itachi didn't look much the type to be into anything. He didn't even seem like he had his own, independent thought.

"Oh but it'd be so cute!" her words were followed by feet stamping and hand clapping, like some weird automatic reflex.

Fujoshi. I'd have to remember that if I ever heard that word again, it meant _run._

"Whatever un," I reached further into the cupboard and pulled out something that finally grabbed my attention. "What do we already have, un?"

She hummed a little and I heard the sound of liquid hitting glass before, "hydrochloric acid, potassium iodide, ammonia, nitric acid, hydrogen –"

"Peroxide, un?"

"Yep, why?"

"Perfect un. There a burner up there?"

"Uh huh."

I tossed her my lighter, one of many actually – though I preferred to use matches.

"Turn it on, please un?"

She did as asked and I placed the small tin I'd found, onto the bench.

_Acetone._

Highly explosive when heated with hydrogen peroxide and when in the presence of an acid.

We had all of those things.

I handed Konan a pair of safety goggles and asked if she'd ever messed around like this in chemistry before. Her answer was a flat out no.

"Well un, you're in for a shock then."

A dangerous shock.

I mixed the chemicals together in a flask held above the invisible flame. Hydrogen peroxide first, then hydrochloric acid. I had done this before, but never this much. I knew how likely it was that it'd explode and that was _exciting._

Konan eyed the small tin suspiciously and said, "Deidara, this is dangerous, don't you think –"

"No, un, I never do," I answered quickly and tipped in the acetone.

Nothing happened for a while. I swirled the flask a bit and waited and suddenly…

_BOOM!_

Konan and I ducked as fast as we could, I dropped the flask as it blew up and we huddled under the relatively safe counter. I cackled madly and Konan gave me a weird look, one I would've expected for my other weird behaviour, had she not been a Fujoshi.

Needless to say, we got into a lot of trouble for that little stunt.

The chemistry workshop had to finish sooner than they'd planned and we were rushed off before we could cause any more damage.

* * *

**oh yeah, so i spent about an hour looking for explosive chemical reactions, then i got bored and wrote something completely random. just so yall know, i do not claim to know anything about chemicals, i actually failed my chemistry exam this year AND last year, including all practice exams. do NOT try this at home ^^.**


	3. Fixing Futures

**BEWARE THE OOC Itachi. it is for my entertainment and also for the purpose of this story. read at your own risk.**

**also, i've always pictured Itachi with a creepy, younger-kid complex. that's the only reason he made that particular decision. also, i would be so happy if Itachi was my little sister's doctor.**

**i decided to post this early because im struggling with Smoke&Mirrors. i can't get the event placement right... but whatever ^^**

* * *

Konan and I were kept away from each other after that, because even though I'd been the one holding the flask and I was a self-confessed pyromaniac, they couldn't tell whether it was my fault or hers. So we were kept at a safe distance by the Yuga science teacher. Also, taking into account my earlier argument with the idiotic, _self-proclaimed_ artist, I was kept away from Sasori as well, leaving only Itachi for me to be paired with.

It's a shame because, despite myself and my unconscious urge to go against what Konan said, I wanted the chance to work with Sasori. He seemed alright, as long as he didn't open that stupid mouth of his, we'd probably be fine. But even if he did, that'd be alright too. I'd had fun arguing with him before and if nothing else, he was sexy when he was angry.

I couldn't help myself from wondering suddenly, how he knew about Konan. Were there people just like her at Suna high school? Was he just like me and had to avoid those girls on a daily basis? Was he seeing anybody?

Wait. It didn't matter! I was _not_ seriously considering doing _anything_ with an idiotic jerk who didn't realise art was fleeting!

No. nuh-uh. No way. _Forget it!_

I refocused myself. I was paired up with Itachi and we got going.

That didn't go over as well as had probably been expected.

Itachi was quiet and I didn't particularly like quiet people. Mainly because you can never tell what they're thinking and that freaks me out a little. And also because his face annoyed me and so did his earlier attitude.

_My parents want me to be a doctor… I'm __**going**__ to be a doctor._

It annoyed me that he seemed to have no individual thought. He was like a robot and robots are evil.

So I decided to speak to him, because what was the worst that could happen? (Besides being killed by what I was sure, were very powerful robot laser eyes.)

We were on our way to the Biology workshop and had fallen in line with the rest of the group, but we were at the back with minimum risk of any of them caring what we said.

Of course I had to be careful what I said.

"Are you a robot, un?" or you know, I could just get straight into it.

Itachi frowned down at me, narrowing his eyes slightly as he contemplated my question.

"No," he said, his voice characteristically cold.

"Well then un, lighten the hell up!" yeah, this approach was the one I wanted to take.

Itachi sighed, "You sound like somebody else I know," he said, staring ahead thoughtfully, "well, a few people actually."

"You should listen to these people, un!" I was actually kind of shocked that he _knew_ other people. He didn't seem the social type. Though they could've been drawn to him for some stupid, unknown reason. "They sound like smart people."

Itachi shrugged, "I see no point in it. What do you gain by being… _happy?_"

"What are you un, stupid?" I shook my head and muttered, "What do you _gain?_ What the hell kind of question is that?!"

"Stupid," Itachi repeated quizzically, "I've never been called _stupid_ before."

"Well maybe people should say that to you more often! Maybe then you'll act like a normal person, un. Jeez, you act like you have no purpose in life," he opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "and I swear, if you tell me your purpose is to become a doctor and make your parents proud, I'll have to blow you up as well, un."

For a moment, he closed his mouth, thinking carefully about the next words he would say.

"It isn't that there aren't things I'd rather do. But this is the path I've chosen."

"Un, did you choose it or are you just doing what you've been told?"

Yeah, think about _that_ for a while.

The biology workshop was a lot like the chemistry one, only without the introductions which took place beforehand. The two people, both women this time, were wary of us, having heard about the explosion in the chem lab and no doubt of the full extent of our weirdness.

They introduced themselves, I really didn't listen out for names, and told us what they did. The first was a med-student studying to be a GP and the other, a little older, was a surgical resident. Both of them had studied right here, at Konaha college and done – or were doing – research papers on population genetics, which was what we were doing in school right now.

It was an easy enough topic and I liked the way it explained things, like the way dogs supposedly evolved from a single type of wolf, and how all vegetables evolved from one type of plant. Or so theories suggested, anyway.

But today, we weren't learning about genetics, we were going to learn about cells, which was an exam I'd opted not to take. So I sat back and let Konan answer all of the questions with as much enthusiasm as a child on their first day of school. Itachi and Sasori probably both knew the answers, but neither spoke up and after the third time Hidan was picked and said _I have no fucking idea, bitch,_ they stopped trying to get an answer out of him.

I really wanted to cut open a frog. I mean yeah, I've already done it in class at least a dozen times, but what would it hurt to cut open another one?

Unfortunately, there were no frogs to cut open. We had to do a lame slide identification practical with microscopes. Usually, I liked working with the microscopes because we'd start up bets on what would and wouldn't work as a slide, but they were already made here, so we just had to figure out what was what.

And as it turned out, Itachi could tell them apart with a single glance and we were done after three minutes.

"Do you have parents?"

It shocked me when Itachi spoke first. I didn't think he knew _how_ to start a conversation, let alone actually possessed the need – or want – for human interaction.

"Nah un, I live with my older cousin," I told him. It was true, my parents had left me a while ago with my oldest cousin. It was cool though, he was twenty-six, had a family and a job, sometimes I pretended he was my real father. Sometimes I thought my family dysfunctions were what led to my _pyromania _as people sometimes called it.

But then I remembered, fires are cool.

"Is it… nice?" he chose his words carefully. I could tell he tried hard not to say the wrong thing.

"Hell un, I was just about to ask you the same thing!" I said, "What's it like actually having a family?"

He thought for a while, once again choosing his words carefully, "It has its moments. But how does it feel… to make your own decisions?"

He was being honest, so I decided to be honest as well. "Like nobody cares enough to make them for me, un."

We were silent for a moment as one of the women strolled past, making sure we weren't going to blow anything up this time. I mean, I wasn't _planning_ on it, but I might now, just because they expected me to.

Anyway, when she walked away, Itachi continued.

"I never thought I'd want advice from a stranger. Tobi wouldn't be happy if he were here," he said the last part to himself and I didn't question it, "do you think –"

"No un, I never do," I cut him off, "but if I did think, I'd think you know yourself better than I could at this point, un. You're good at this stuff, and you like it, right?"

He stared down at the microscope for a moment.

I could see the indecision in his eyes. Maybe I was a magnet for confusion because when I first saw him, he looked like a guy who pretty much had it together.

Finally, "I like the idea of helping people."

"Right un. So if you want to help people, medicine is the best place to go to… unless you wanna be like, a social worker or something like that?"

He shook his head. "My parents want me to be a surgeon."

So we were back to that. "Is that what you want, un?"

The look of togetherness returned to him and he said steadily, "I'm going to be a paediatrician."

"Good, un! You're starting to sound more alive already!"

Had I just fixed this guy's life?

Maybe I should be a psychiatrist. But I doubted that blowing up my office, my records and a few of my patients would go over well with officials.

"Do you know what you'll be when you grow up?" he asked.

I found that question increasingly weird as I got older. And especially now, since I was all but grown up anyway.

Still, I answered like I did whenever anybody asked.

"I'm going to be an artist, un."

And immediately, from across the room, Sasori said, "good luck with that brat. You can't be an artist if nobody ever sees your work."

To which I replied, "they'll see it un; right before I _destroy_ it," I wanted to laugh maniacally after that, but I felt it wouldn't go over well with _anybody_ and so I didn't.

"Idiot," he growled.

"It's unhealthy to talk to yourself, un."

I wanted to laugh at the look on Konan's face right now. It looked like she'd just entered a candy shop and everything was half price.

"Art is _eternal_, brat. You'll never make it if you destroy everything you create!"

"Well un, we'll just see what the world thinks! Before you know it they'll all think art is fleeting," not that I cared what the world thought, but I knew it would annoy him, "because _nothing_ lasts forever un. Not me, not you and certainly not anything worth seeing twice!" things that _were_ worth seeing twice, include that look on his face of pure, unadulterated anger, which would never look the same even if I managed to annoy him again.

For a moment, I thought we would continue arguing until the metaphorical cows came home, until the Yuga science teacher stopped us again.

"Jeez, why do I always get stuck with the lunatics?" he groaned, pushing me back from where I'd been leaning over the bench. On the other side of the room, Konan pulled Sasori back. If we had been arguing for much longer, I think either we'd have end up actually fighting or one of us would've thrown a microscope at the other.

"You're a magnet for trouble," Itachi said. Not a question but a plain statement.

"Un, seems so, doesn't it."


	4. For Lack Of A Better Title

**I had work this weekend, which hopefully explains why im updating late.**

**this is the second to last chapter. sorry for shortness and crapiness.**

**if it makes up for it in any way at all, im pretty sure i failed my maths exam ^^**

* * *

Around lunchtime, we were all gathered in the entrance hall like before and spoken to by the people who were running this stupid event. What did they say? I have no idea, I wasn't fucking listening! Probably something about _don't go jumping off the roof, okay?_ Though I'm pretty sure I heard mentions of my earlier work of art, but I could've been mistaken.

Afterwards, we were led group by group, outside. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of outside where you could speed-ditch everyone and go back to Iwa, instead we were on the outside arc connecting two glass-walled sections of the building, a large garden stood in the centre of the arc, though I really couldn't understand what they needed a roof-garden for in a place like this.

As we left the building and stepped out into the dull Konaha sunlight, dulled by the still-present clouds, I could see _everything._ The section of our city they called Konaha, was one filled with tall buildings, all a similar shade of grey. The only colour came from yellow cabs in the streets, red min-vans, blue sports cars and small trees just off the side walk. It was a very inartistic place, much like its college.

The groups started to separate. It was weird, really. All of the green shirts sat together, so did the blue shirts, red shirts, purple shirts, white shirts and yellow shirts. Us kids from Iwa didn't really know each other that well, but I saw most of them moving towards each other, and away from everybody else, no matter how much they didn't want to.

Ours was the last group to split.

Konan looked at us all almost sadly, before running over to where all the kids from Ame sat. I could hear her from where we stood, a good distance away, talking excitedly to a guy with orange hair, who I assumed was her future politician boyfriend.

Lucky her.

Sasori and Itachi walked away at the same time, heading in opposite directions, only one of them bothered to acknowledge Hidan and I, while the other stalked off to be a jerk somewhere else. Itachi didn't go towards the rest of Konaha like expected, but ended up sitting with one of the Kiri students who sat away from everyone else.

"You're not going to sit with your friends, un?" I asked Hidan. We were standing awkwardly near the door, staring at all of the places where we didn't belong.

"I don't think I'm allowed," he said, smirking over at all the purple shirt wearers who seemed to shrink as a group, "besides, I fucking hate all those guys. You not gonna sit with Iwa?"

"Nah un, I hate all those guys," just because I didn't know them, didn't mean I couldn't hate them.

We ended up sitting together out of the sun and away from everybody else. Hidan had caused a bit of a scene as we were walking away, having been told to stay within his teacher's line of sight, he responded simply by saying, "why don't you go fuck yourself?"

Needless to say, we weren't welcome at any of the tables where _normal_ people sat and we probably wouldn't be welcome with the rest of our group. That's why we decided to sit far away from everybody, closer to the edge of the arc.

Hidan told me a bit about himself, since I had already said a lot throughout the day. Apparently Yuga was for parents who were desperately poor or just plan desperate, and Hidan's parents just happened to be both. Yuga high school was notorious for it's _no rejection_ policy and unwillingness to expel students, no matter what they did. So anybody who was like Hidan and wanted to be rid of education would simply have to quit instead.

However, since Hidan went to Yuga on court order, that wasn't an option either. He would either have to finish his last year or commit a crime so bad they put him in jail straight away.

But the point of this was to gain freedom, and so the latter was not really an option.

"Un, don't you want to do anything with your life?" I asked him. I figured if I could set one guy straight, setting another one the same way shouldn't be a problem.

"Nothing that involves the useless shit they teach in school," he told me. "Besides, all of the teachers from Yuga treat me like a fucking mentally ill child and don't go saying it's my fault because they were doing it before started acting out."

I laughed a little because I had been in the same boat. "Don't worry un, I know what you mean," I said, "sometimes I think there isn't a person in the world who isn't out to get me, un."

"Yeah. They're all a bunch of heathen pricks."

The look on his face right then was identical to that of a sullen child.

Hidan went on to tell me what he _would_ like to do with his life and what he was already doing. Granted, it wasn't exactly… legal, but neither was my method of art, unless you had a permit.

He'd made a lot of money stealing and selling a range of _used_ items, from both commercial places and residential, as well as providing a range of… questionable services – not like that, perv! He's made a small underground business of it wasn't the only one playing the game, despite the fact that he routinely blew most of his own earnings playing cards, not to mention he was in debt – just a little. Though he was certain he'd be fine.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out, huh, un?"

"Yep. Just sixteen more weeks and I can graduate and move away from my dickhead parents."

"Well yeah un, but you'll probably want to control that gambling probably."

He let out a bark of laughter and said, yeah, probably."

That was about when he was caught. He'd also explained that he wasn't the only high school kid who'd had this idea, nor was he the only one involved in semi-legal gambling. In fact he owed a lot of money to a kid form Taki who was the same age as us.

"Hidan!"

We both looked towards the sound of his name being called out; his eyes full of uncertain fear while I was sure my own were full of simple amusement.

"Hidan, where's my money?"

The kid from Taki looked dangerous, though Hidan made up his mind and decided he wasn't scared.

"Does it look like I fucking know?" he asked, getting up off his seat so as to curse louder.

In the midst of their heated and very public argument, which as it wore on, seemed to get more and more like a fight, I decided to take my leave.

I snuck off to the other side of the arc, past eagerly watching students and uncertain teachers – because none of this had anything to do with them – and sure enough, there he was. There was still one member of my group I had yet to properly acquaint myself with, and there were no teachers around who weren't focussing on that other mess, to stop me from getting close to Sasori.


	5. Fate Awaits Those Who Try

**So, this WAS going to be the last chapter but i decided to drag it out just a little longer. enjoy ^^**

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He was at the other edge of the roof, leaning half over, watching the city move and yet stay still. Was that a thing? That sentence really didn't sound right, did it? And yet that's the only way I could describe it.

I took a moment to appreciate the way he looked, like I would a piece of art I was just about to blow up – though I was sure, were I to blow Sasori up, they'd lock me up and I'd have angry parents to deal with. There was no denying Sasori was a good looking guy, with all the potential to become a work of art – though once again, it would land me in jail were I to turn him into one – but perhaps due to his idiotic opinions, not an artist. His best quality seemed to be his red hair, which was the colour of both blood _and_ fire, but then his personality was also kind of fiery, like an _explosion!_

He was trying to light a cigarette, but every time he tried, his lighter wouldn't work. It was a problem easily fixed.

"Here, un," I offered one of my own lighters. He stared for a few moments before taking it, without saying a word. "You know, that's bad for your health," I informed him, helpfully of course.

"Don't care," he said, finally getting the thing lit up, "if nobody ever did anything bad for their health, we'd have a population crisis."

"That's a pretty morbid way to think about things un."

Sasori simply shrugged, "we're all dying anyway, aren't we? Besides, this stupid orientation is sure to kill me faster than nicotine."

"Boring as hell un," I agreed, "I think Konan's literally the only one enjoying this."

I watched a smile pull at the corners of his mouth and felt elated that I'd been the cause. Something about Sasori just made me want to make him happy. I think, that it was the air of heavy sadness that surrounded him.

"So you're from Iwa," he said, "must be pretty great there, huh?"

"Not really un, I hate everybody and they hate me. The only good thing about it is that it's the art district, un. There's art everywhere, it's colourful as all hell." You'd think for an art district, Iwa would be more tolerant of people like me. But if you did think that, you'd be wrong. "What's it like to live in Suna?"

"Like everybody around you made the wrong decision in life and they think they can stop you from doing the same thing."

"Un, I thought that would be a pretty accurate description of Yuga."

"Yuga parents are poor because they have no choice. Suna parents are poor because they _wasted_ their choice."

"Are you going to apply for Iwa art school, un?" I knew he sure as hell wasn't applying for Konaha university of science.

"I don't know, I think I might become a doctor or something like that."

Or maybe I was wrong.

"What are you talking about? You hate it here, un!" and now I was talking like I'd known him for years. With any luck, I'd spark a new argument, "don't tell me you're caving under the pressures of society."

"I just don't think it's worth the struggle," he threw his burnt out cigarette butt out into the street and quickly lit another one. "Besides, doctors make good money, don't they? It's the sensible thing to do."

"Maybe you _should_ become a doctor," I scoffed, "it doesn't sound like you have the guts to be an artist. We're risk takers, not safe players, you should try doing something spontaneous, un," like blowing something up, that'd be so cool!

For a moment I thought he wasn't going to do anything. He just stood there, taking a long drag of his cigarette before throwing it off of the building and breathing out a large cloud of smoke. He looked behind us, looking around for any teachers or students watching us, before he grabbed my wrist and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Alright, you want spontaneous?" he asked, "let's go to Iwa then."

"What un?"

"You wanted spontaneous, don't tell me you've changed your mind," he said. It felt like we were playing a game of chicken, "besides, you want to go to Iwa don't you? Even if it's just to see your dreams crumble because they don't accept terrorists?"

We reached a door which led down to a fire exit and he pushed me through, pulling me back when I almost lost my footing and fell. He was serious. We were _really_ running away, we were _really_ going to Iwa university.

"Hey un, I'm not a terrorist! Just because I blow things up or light them on fire does _not_ make me a terrorist!"

"Which term do you prefer then?" he asked, feigning interest as we began our descent, "arsonist? Pyromaniac?"

"Yeah un, that last one sounds pretty cool."

_Pyromaniac._

Yeah, I liked the sound of that.

"How were you even planning to apply to Iwa Art School anyway? You don't have a work portfolio or even a sample to show them, for all they know you could be the worst artist in the world which really, isn't too far off from the truth."

"I had a plan un," I told him stubbornly. Unfortunately, my plan included only going there and blowing something up while giving a maniacal speech about how art is fleeting. It worked perfectly every time in my mind, though I highly doubted it would work in reality.

Still, I was a man of hope.

"Plans don't always work out brat. What were you planning to do if they didn't accept you, blow them up?"

_Yes,_ "no, un!"

"You only have one line of defence, one statement, one art medium. Why don't you try something different?"

Different.

I could tell he was teasing me, just as I had done before, in hopes of getting a rise out of me, and it was working. Of course it was.

So I turned around in the middle of the stairwell, effectively cutting him off and did something I'd wanted to do since our argument that morning. I kissed him. Because Konan was right, it was time for me to explore other options, even if it got me killed. And Sasori had asked me for something different, it wasn't my fault if he'd gotten more than he could handle.

"I meant to do with art, brat," he growled once I stopped, and yet he didn't push me away or show any sign that he was uncomfortable with what I'd just done.

"I believe every moment we're alive is art, un," I told him, smiling uncontrollably, "after all, our lives are all pretty fleeting, aren't they?"

He rolled his eyes, but I could see a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "again with the fleeting crap. Give it a rest already, that stuff gets real old real fast."

"I hear that's what they say about eternity," okay so I didn't hear that about eternity, but somebody _could've_ said that once, I had never listened to anything that was going to last forever, "or maybe it's eternal things that get old too quickly."

"And fleeting things remain too young to understand anything, a lot like you."

"And you think you understand more than I do?" well to be honest, he probably did.

"I understand art a lot better than you do and that wasn't it," I felt disappointed for a few moments before he kissed me. I wondered for a few fleeting seconds if Konan had given him the same advice. Fujoshi, I'd have to remember that word. But then that thought was gone and I was left with only the idle thought that, for a guy with such an angry, cold demeanour, he had a really soft sort of touch.

But then it was over again. Fleeting wasn't always a good thing, it seemed.

"If we don't hurry, we're going to miss the bus," he said.

I didn't know how he knew that, hell he probably had the schedule memorized or something weird like that, but I listened anyway and hurried down the rest of the stairs, outside into Konaha's annoying lack of light.

I had never done much travelling outside of the art district, and any that I had done was in books or on the internet, so I let Sasori lead me around, trusting that he wouldn't get us too lost. I was right, and we ended up at the bus stop right as our bus showed up.

Iwa was only a short ten minutes away and since there was hardly anyone on the bus, I was able to convince the driver to drop them off at the art school.

I watched Sasori stare outside, wonder in his eyes as he took in all the colours, a direct contrast to Konaha. Sometimes I liked to stand at the border between the two districts and just stare at the two buildings there; one dull and grey and the other a bright, sickening yellow.

Sometimes I thought the architects here were insane.

But then you'd have to be, to live in Iwa.

The bus stopped and we were let out, to witness the glory that is, Iwa University of Art. It was a tall building, red, blue, yellow and purple, a horrible mix I know but that's just the way it was. It was shaped in a way that looked as though it might topple over either way and even the lawn out in front, was cut in the shape of a picture. It was almost _too_ much to resist simply blowing up. But Sasori had come all this way to see the school and so I wasn't going to get in the way of that.


	6. The Future Is Up To Me

**Alright here you have it, the exciting conclusion of this story. i know, it's a little sucky in places but i sort of rushed to get this out in time... anyways, i want to make it clear that Deidara's opinions reflect my own entirely. that's the problem with writing, sometimes you pour a little too much of yourself into your work, but i certainly did that while writing this story.**

**i hate the idea of growing up and chosing a path for myself that i'll hate. and the fact that i'm in my last year of highschool terrifies me. anyways, on with the story.**

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"Un, I'm eighty-five Percent sure that this is illegal," I said while staring out the window of Iwa university of arts. We had climbed in through an open window on the first floor, having found the doors locked and knowing they wouldn't believe any sort of lie we told them.

My original plan had been to simply pretend we'd been there the whole time, since there would be other students from Iwa and Suna, but a representative from our schools would probably be present and so that wasn't a good idea.

I never have good ideas.

"Since when did legality become a concern of terrorists?" Sasori asked me, staring out the window next to mine.

"I told you not to use that word, un," I grumbled lowly.

"So then, what does the other fifteen Percent of you think?"

I had to think back for a moment before I realised he was asking about what I'd said before.

"Well un, the other fifteen Percent, thinks that it's _fun_ to break the law!" I gave a smile and said, "I try not to listen to that part of myself."

"And yet here you are," he drawled.

"Un, only because you made me come here with you."

"You wouldn't have come if I'd simply asked?"

Damn. "Okay un, I would've, but still!"

"Still nothing," Sasori said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the hall, away from the approaching sound of students. It appeared lunch time was over and the workshops were resuming. "I knew you were a brat the first moment I saw you outside the university."

I frowned as I was pulled into an empty classroom, and said, "Un, why do you keep calling me that?" I _wasn't_ a brat! "Wait, I didn't even notice you outside this morning," that should've been the first thing I took from that statement.

"It's not like I noticed _you_ specifically, but–"

"But, un?" I had already made myself comfortable, sitting on – _on_ not _at_ – the teacher's desk, and now gave him a cheeky look worthy of the brat he called me constantly.

"But you stuck out of the crowd like a complete _brat._ You know you're the only blonde in the Iwa group? I thought for a moment you were the only _girl_ as well," he informed me, returning my cheeky smile as my own melted into a scowl, "our entire group stuck out. Konan's the first person I've ever seen in real life with blue hair and the kids from Yuga stood like three feet away from Hidan."

I couldn't help but agree with him, because we all _did_ stick out like sore thumbs. And even the others, Konan's boyfriend, that kid from Kiri who Itachi was apparently friends with and that guy from Taki who Hidan owed money, they stuck out too.

"Heh, I was too busy wishing I was here, to notice anyone, un," I told him.

He seemed to ignore me as he took in the sight of the classroom. It was a little weird, nothing like the dull grey or pure white rooms from Konaha University, nor was it like the neon coloured and polka-dotted classrooms in Iwa High School. The floor and roof of this class were both pure white, the desks were lined up perfectly, the windows lined up as well and were all the exact same size, but the walls were pitch black with lines and lines of square white writing of words and phrases, written backwards.

"Un, what do you think they teach in this class?" I asked him, trying to read the words but to no avail.

"I don't know, maybe writing?" he replied, not really listening to what I had said.

"That's right, sometimes I forget that this place teaches more than just art."

He stopped for a moment to stare out the new window suddenly available to him. From here, on the fifth floor of the large building, we got a pretty fantastic view of the campus and the quad between the four towering buildings. Inside the class however, my mind was stuck in a fantasy world; a world where I was a teacher at this school, imparting my own wisdom upon the students of this school.

Yeah, that'd be so cool. I'd call my class, _explosions 101: how to blow shit up the artistic way._

"Quit daydreaming and get over here brat," Sasori demanded. I did as I was told and rushed through the class to stand beside him.

The outside of Iwa University, was strange. It was composed primarily of four buildings – this being the centre of the campus, and only the main but not full part of the school – of varying heights and shapes, with a consistent picture painted, presumably by the art students, on each of them. It was the cliché, four seasons, but skilfully done; if there was a tree on the first building that was cut off, it was continued on the next building in the next season. Right before them was summer, nothing but green fields, green trees and blue skies. Beside that was autumn, full of red and yellow and orange, a season for change and for death. That meant they were in the winter building, since the final building was spring.

"What do you think, un?" I asked him. Personally, I thought it was a bit much, really colourful and nice but I'd have done something a little darker and morbid… or perhaps something resembling an explosion – had I not blown the buildings up straight away.

"It's very different from what I'm used to," he finished finally.

I noticed that the names of the buildings were written on the top floors for each, in a colour that highly contrasted the season. The _Art_ department was in the Spring building, _Fashion_ in the much smaller autumn building and _photography_ in the medium sized Summer building. That meant we _were_ in the writing building.

I didn't know much about Iwa University of Arts but I knew that those were the four main major's you could take here.

"So has it got you motivated, or what?" I pressed. For some reason unexplained, I was looking forward to him saying yes and to a life where we could both go here together. A life where the end of today, didn't have to be goodbye.

"I thought seeing this place for real, would've, but it hasn't. "

"Well that's cause we're in the wrong building, un!" I exclaimed, disappointed by his reaction, I took his hand and began to lead him to the door, "you're never gonna get excited if we stay here!"

So I dragged him downstairs, across the quad and into the _Art_ building. I wondered briefly if any of the kids from any of the other schools were looking out the windows right now and watching us.

We ended up in the middle of the second floor, in some kind of student gallery fully of arbitrary abstract works of melting cities and burnt-out canvases splashed with random colours of paint. It was nice but…

"Un, you know what we should do?" I asked.

"We're not blowing this up," Sasori said without missing a beat. Already, he knew me too well.

"So then you like it?" I asked, getting my hopes up without intending to.

"It's… _nice_," he said, "but I still think I might be a doctor."

"You're so annoying!" I declared, dragging him further into the building, "you want to spend the rest of your life treating sick people? I bet you don't even like people, un! You'd just do it for the money and because you're afraid to put yourself out there."

"I don't think you can be anymore _out there_ than helping strangers," he told me, he was clearly amused that this was making me angry. "Besides, the way you say it, it sounds pretty fulfilling."

"Yeah, but I bet following your dreams is better, un," I told him. We ended up in another small, circular hallway full of student works. This one was all blue, probably abstract paintings of the ocean but it didn't really convince me.

"You must live in a wonderful world," Sasori commented, "a world full of magic where nothing can ever go wrong and you always get your way. Must be nice."

I knew he was being condescending, it wasn't all that hard to tell.

"But you know, in the real world, there are more important things than _following your dreams._ You know, like getting good qualifications, a good job, making enough money to _live,_" he told me. As if I didn't already know all of that.

"I know all that, un! But the thing is, I don't care. I'd rather _die_ than spend my life working a boring nine to five office job. I don't want to wake up one day, and realise I've made the wrong decision, un."

Here I was, trying to prove myself to a stranger. It felt weird, and I let myself slump against a wall, ignoring the sinking feeling as I hit the ground. He was like me, wasn't he? From what I knew about him, he lived with a member of his extended family, barely making ends meet, good grades in school, even in the subjects he hated. No friends, no one to talk to, nothing to believe in. he was like me and I was like him, so in a way, this was like trying to prove myself, to myself. Only, he'd had a different upbringing, one that taught him to repress his hopes, his dreams and his creativity. He'd had an upbringing that taught him to look towards a richer future, not a happier one.

I registered him sitting down beside me, close enough that it should've been uncomfortable but it wasn't.

"The wrong decision in your mind is one that would make you unhappy," he stated, and it was true, "but society doesn't think like that. They think the _wrong_ choice is one that would grant you less money, less credibility and stature, they think you should make something great for yourself, and somehow, being an _artist_ doesn't cut it with society."

"Un, and you care what they think?" I asked him.

"Well sure, don't you?"

I shook my head stubbornly, "of course not, they're all a bunch of idiots anyway!" I declared, "I hate everybody. That's why I'll show them all that they're wrong. I'll show them I can make something of myself, without following their stupid guidelines."

He smiled slightly, "really, you must live a _very_ magical life. I wish I could care as little as you, I really do. But happiness isn't for everyone, you know? We have to have doctors and lawyers and businessmen to make the world go around. If everyone did what they wanted, nothing would ever get done."

"That's just an excuse, un," I muttered.

"Well yeah, of course it is," he replied, "but that's not to say this hasn't been fun; I never thought when I woke up today, that'd I'd be breaking into a building with a kid I just met."

"Fun?" I repeated it as though I'd never heard the word before.

"Yeah. You know, for an androgynous brat with no idea what art is, you're a pretty cool guy."

"Geez thanks un," I said sarcastically.

He stood up, offering me a hand so I could do the same. If we didn't hurry we'd miss the bus back to Konaha, even though my own house was just down the street, I didn't want my cousin to get any phone calls asking where I'd disappeared to.

We spent the bus ride in silence, just watching the colours slowly fade and re-entering the dull medical district of Konaha. Again, there weren't very many people on the bus so I was able to convince the driver – the same man from before – to drop us off outside the university. And, as luck would have it, the groups were starting to disperse and line back up ready to get back onto their own busses.

Once we got off and hit the ground, we were instantly tackled by Konan. Fujoshi, I was never going to forget that.

"Where _were_ you guys?" she squealed, "You missed the best part! We just got done with the physics workshop!"

That's right, I'd missed the one workshop I'd actually come to see.

"What are you talking about?" Sasori asked and I decided to take his lead.

"Yeah un, we were there the whole time!"

Konan eyed us suspiciously, having seen us getting off of a bus, but probably not able to read what it had said, she had no way to find out where we'd really been.

"great job you two," Hidan said, "you made Mr Fucktard over there freak the hell out," he pointed over towards his science teacher, who did actually look little concerned. I guess when Sasori and I had decided to run off, we weren't exactly thinking about anyone else.

Itachi was there too, but he simply didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said, anyway, since between Konan and Hidan, everything else was said in the span of two minutes, before they were called to their own schools.

Iwa and Suna were next to each other, so Sasori and I stood together, rather than standing with our schools who hated us. I looked over at him, a question lingering in my mind.

"Are you really going to go to Konaha University and become a doctor, un?" I asked him.

He hummed for a moment in thought before he said, "I don't know," and glancing back at the school, "there are still a few more weeks of school left, you could always convince me to come to Iwa with you," I was about to tell him I had no way of contacting him, but he fixed that problem before it could be brought up, my scrawling a short sequence of numbers down on the back of my hand.

We were both called forward by our respective schools but before either of us moved, he said one final thing to me, "you know, when I woke up this morning, I didn't think I'd be meeting any artists."

I actually laughed, when he said that, feeling happiness well up and overflow through my heart. I hadn't thought I'd meet any either, and yet I met him.

Maybe going on fieldtrips during high school, wasn't such a stupid idea after all.

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**END. Hope this story was enjoyed.**


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